Rubens

of Leucippos by Castor and Pollux, now in the Munich Pinakothek (Fig. 29). He threw special enthusiasm into his groups of Diana and of Bacchus: and he revelled in representing the sports of woodland deities (Figs. 30 and 31); depicting their boisterous ways and inebriatedly amorous gambols with great gusto. At one time he paints them accompanied by voluptuous naiads, at another by graceful and timid nymphs; whilst sometimes, for the sake of contrast, he introduces into the composition even the chaste Diana herself (Fig. 32). He deals repeatedly with the legend of Meleagcr and Atalanta, a subject which gave him the opportunity of representing manly strenght and

Fig. 38. The Boak Hunt. In the Pinakothek at Munich. After a photograph from the original by Franz Hanfstangl, Munich. (To page 51.)

womanly charm in close contrast. In the Gallery at Cassel there is a splendid subject with a half-figure of Meleager presenting the bristling head of the Calydonian boar to the beautiful huntress, whilst Envy lurks in the background.

Another representation of the same subject is at Munich, rendered even more attractive by the addition of magnificent grey-hounds and a fine landscape (Fig. 34).

It was on rarer occasions that he approached subjects of the Old Testament. Amongst these are the sketches of Ahasverus and Esther, designs for the decoration of a ceiling, and the splendid painting of Samson and Delilah, both in the Pinakothek at Munich (Fig. 33).

In 1614 his eldest son was born. He was named after the Archduke Albrecht, who stood sponsor for him. In spite of the coat of arms at the
back of the composition, we may recognise in the fascinating portrait in the Dresden Gallery of a lady with a baby on her lap (Fig. 35), Frau Isabella, her face somewhat thin and worn, and her infant son. The head of a child in the Liechtenstein Collection at Vienna, is, no doubt, a likeness of Rubens' eldest daughter who, with her clear almond-shaped eyes and amiably expressive mouth, seems the very image of her mother (Fig. 36). The charming

Fig. 39. Studv Of A Hoese. Drawing in the Albertina at Vienna. After a photograph from the original by Braun, Clement & Co., Dornach, Paris and New-York.

(To page 52.)

Madonna surrounded by Cupids and enclosed in a wreath of flowers,— the latter a masterpiece of Breughel, — is unmistakeably also a portrait of Isabella and the infant Albrecht (Fig. 37).

An ever increasing number of commissions compelled the master to avail himself of the help of his pupils in executing his pictures, especially in large compositions and replicas: but he himself always put in the final touches; thus giving them the stamp of his genius. The pupils entered into the ideas of their masters as far as their respective abilities allowed.
His powerful influence acted, not only on young art-students desirous of learning from him, but also on contemporary workers: and even on his former teachers. He often worked on the same canvas with other painters, with whom he was linked by terms of friendship. Besides painting in company with the above-mentioned Johann Breughel, he frequently collaborated with Franz Snyders, unsurpassed as a painter of animals,who, born at Antwerp

Fig. 41. The Resueeection Of The Just. In the Pinakothek at Munich. After a photograph from the original by Franz Hanfstangl, Munich. (To page 56.)

Fig. 42. The Punishment Of The Unjust. In the Pinakothek at Munich. After a photograph from the original by Franz Hanfstangl, Munich. (To page 56.)

in 1579, was about his own age. In the Galleries of Dresden and Munich for example, are vigourous scenes from boar-hunts, the joint work of Rubens and Snyders (Fig. 38). It was, however, only for expedition, and because he was so overburdened with work, not of necessity, that he thus sought the help of his friend in painting animals. He was himself a first rate animal